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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29746251">You and Me Against the World</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzythursday/pseuds/Jazzythursday'>Jazzythursday</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cannon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, I just need them to kiss already, LadyNoir - Freeform, TV Special: Miraculous World: New York, bUT MAYBE ONE DAY, no reveal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:01:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,636</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29746251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzythursday/pseuds/Jazzythursday</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place directly after the New York special. Ladybug and Chat Noir have a much needed talk. Apologies are said, feeling are felt, and for once these two oblivious teens get it together and find that in the end, all they need is each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You and Me Against the World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I’ve spent the last few weeks reading all the recent ML fics I  could find until I decided to have a crack at writing my own. Hopefully the characterization is right but this is my first time writing these two so we’ll see. Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette was a mess. Ever since getting back from New York she hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything. Her nerves were shot, and staying up all night thinking definitely wasn’t helping matters either. It had been three days.</p><p>Three days with no akumas. </p><p>Three days with no Chat.</p><p>She had been thinking of him most of all. There was so much she wanted to say, to do, but they had no plans for patrols until the weekend. She was getting squirrely. The bluenette paced about her room wearing a hole into the carpet as Tikki watched, concerned for her charge.</p><p>“Marinette, maybe you should just go talk to him, you are partners after all,” she chirped.</p><p>She sat down on her chaise and covered her face with her hands. Tikki flew over and nuzzled into her shoulder, offering as much comfort as she could.</p><p>“But that’s the thing Tikki, I don’t even know what to say. I’m so mad at him, but I feel so guilty too. I don’t want to miscalculate again. I never expected him to leave like that, but then again, I never expected to be the reason for him to. I’m so confused!” </p><p>And then there was the other thing. The feeling deep in her chest that warmed her cheeks and made her heart beat fast every time he was near, that told her as long as they were together they’d be alright, and made it hurt all the more when they weren’t. That was new.</p><p>She thought about how it felt laying in the street on that rainy day in New York. Having failed both boys. If she was honest with herself, it hadn’t truly been Adrien she was chasing that night, but Chat. That was a hard pill to swallow. She knew she still had feelings for her class mate, but more and more lately she had been questioning if maybe she had made a mistake in writing Chat off so quickly. And now more than ever it was him, who she wanted near.</p><p>“You both made mistakes,” Tikki said gently. “He loves you, that hasn’t changed. I know you're scared but maybe you just need to be honest with him about how you feel. You’re both hurting, maybe a talk would help.”</p><p>Tiki was right. She needed to see him. And After everything that happened they certainly needed the closure. She had no way of contacting him, but she was hoping that her luck would come through for her this time. </p><p>Gathering her courage, she nodded to Tikki.</p><p>“Spots on.”</p><p>                                      _________________</p><p> </p><p>She had been searching the roofs of Paris for the better part of an hour before she saw him. He was sitting on the edge of a building looking up at the sky, his legs swaying over the edge. She made a quiet landing and walked closer. </p><p>“Hey, fancy spotting you here,” she said Lighty.</p><p>He didn’t startle, but when he turned she could see see the ghost of tears on his face. She felt a pang in her chest, wishing that she could have been there to wipe them away. She hated knowing he was hurting all alone.</p><p>“Was that a pun, my Lady?” </p><p>She could tell he was trying for his classic sly grin, but it had none of his usual bravado behind it.</p><p>“Maaaaybe.”</p><p>“Care to sit down? Plenty of room up here for two.”</p><p>She made her way over and plopped herself down on the ledge, gazing out into the distant paris lights around them. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed silent, but she must have zoned out because the next thing she knew he was tapping her on the shoulder and saying something she couldn’t quite make out.</p><p>“What was that?”</p><p>“I said, what are you doing out so late? Not that I mind the company!” He added quickly.</p><p>“Honestly… looking for you.”</p><p>He waited for her to continue. Cocking his head to the side with a very not-chat expression on his face that seemed to say ‘go on’.</p><p>“We never got a chance to really talk after New York, and I couldn’t wait for the next Akuma. Everything got so out of hand, and- and I needed you.”</p><p>‘I always need you’ her thoughts whispered.</p><p>“I can’t say I wasn’t hoping to see you as well.” Then, quietly, “I’ve missed you.”</p><p> “I’ve missed you too kitty,” she said under her breadth. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I shouldn’t have been so harsh with you, but I was so upset that you felt like- like you couldn’t trust me!” She yelled the last part and he recoiled as If physically stung by her words.</p><p>“I thought you trusted me Chat.” She tried to keep her voice steady.</p><p>“I do!” He defended. “I do trust you! I trust you with everything.”</p><p>“Then why?”</p><p>“It was so last minute, and I couldn’t get out of it, but I didn’t want to disappoint you. You asked me to watch over paris in your absence, believed in me, and I wanted to live up to that.” </p><p>“Oh Chat.” She reached out and stroked his cheek lightly.</p><p> “We could have worked something out. You deserve to have fun too you know. It would have been difficult with both of us gone but there would have been a way. I already believe in you, I should probably say it more, but I need you to know that you don’t have to live up to some standard for me to know you’re the best parter a bug could ask for.”</p><p>A stray tear rolled down his face at her words and she took the opportunity to brush it away with her thumb. Smiling softly at him.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess I should have known that,” he replied sheepishly.</p><p>“Well I guess it’s lucky you have someone to remind you whenever you need it. I mean it. There’s no one I’d rather do this with. Together, I know we can solve anything that comes our way.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he said cracking a smile “Pretty lucky.”</p><p>As nice as the moment was it wasn’t enough to keep her worries at bay. There was still so much wrong and the shakiness she had felt since almost loosing her parter in had not yet dissipated. Her expression must have cued him into her emotions because his smile fell. He looked at her with concern.</p><p>“Please tell me what your thinking,” he pleaded. “I know there’s more you want to say.”</p><p>“It’s just... there’s so much I’ve messed up lately!” she sighed. </p><p>“I never expected to become Guardian so soon. I feel like I’m drowning in the pressure and since master Fu-” she cut herself off and looked away, unable to keep eye contact. She clenched the railing hard, willing her voice not to break.</p><p>“I don’t know what I’m doing Chat. Maybe I seem like I do, but I don’t. And being Guardian, being Ladybug… so much is riding on me to do the right thing. And- and you're the only one I have who knows about any of it.”</p><p>“My Lady.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Please look at me.”</p><p>When she finally managed to turn her head she was instantly met with Chat’s face no more than 2 inches from her own. She could feel his breadth on her cheeks, and fought the urge to blush at the proximity.</p><p>“I never should have relinquished plag, and I definitely shouldn’t have left you to deal with everything on your own. I know your responsibilities way heavy on you, and I never want to be the person who makes it any heavier. As for knowing what to do all the time, you’re always at your best when you trust yourself. You’re a good leader, and an even better Ladybug. Maybe you didn’t expect to be guardian so soon, but that’s all the more reason to give yourself time to adjust. I’m You’re my partner, my Lady, and I’m sorry I wasn’t when I should have been. I’d do anything to earn back your faith in me.”</p><p>“Oh kitty, don’t you know you already have it?”</p><p>She was definitely blushing now.</p><p>He was so close to her. His lips mere centimeters from her own.</p><p>She wanted, she realized, to kiss him.<br/>
She wondered if he was thinking about kissing her. </p><p>She had to tell him the truth.</p><p>Now.</p><p>“There’s one more thing,” she forced herself to say. </p><p>“Anything, Bug, tell me”.</p><p>‘Okay Ladybug. Now or never’ she thought.</p><p>“I - ithinkiloveyouback.”</p><p>The expression on his face was comical. If she wasn’t channeling all her energy into it freaking out, she would have wanted a picture.</p><p>“What?” He squeaked.</p><p>“I said,” she paused to take a breath and steady herself “I love you back.”</p><p>He stared at her dumbstruck, eyes glinting emerald in the moonlight. A mix of elation and confusion playing on his features. But most of all, hope.</p><p>In her nervousness she began to babble.</p><p>“It’s just- I’ve always cared for you chat, but, there was the other boy- and I told myself that I couldn’t have feelings for you, that yours weren’t serious, that you weren’t. I’m incredibly stubborn, and I was blind to what was happening all along. It’s you, chat, maybe it always has been, and I don’t want to pretend that I don’t feel that way anymore.”</p><p>Silance.</p><p>“I mean- what I meant was- was that- that-”</p><p>Before she could continue a pair of lips met her own, stopping whatever sentence she was about to butcher right in its tracks. Softly, she kissed him back, pressure as light as a feather but strong as a rock. For a brief moment it was as if all was right. Like world had finally allowed them a little bit of peace for once. She found herself thinking ‘oh, this is how it always should have been’.</p><p>It was light.</p><p>Tentative.</p><p>Fearful.</p><p>Neither of the superheroes moved, afraid that if they parted the spell would be broken. That the lines they crossed tonight would once again be undone by some cruel twist of fate, and their normal (if you could even call it that) routine would begin again.</p><p>Slowly, as not to ruin the moment, they pulled apart. Hesitant to be farther away from one another. Green eyes met blue as they looked at each other. There was a charge in the air, she was sure of it. She wondered what would happen next, what would happen after that. And, the longer neither spoke, the more she wondered if she hadn’t  done right thing after all.</p><p>“Say something- please,” she whispered, pleading for a sign that nothing was wrong - that nothing she had done was wrong.</p><p>“I can’t believe all I had to do to finally win you over was be a total idiot.”</p><p>She couldn’t help it. She laughed.</p><p>He looked at her in surprise, before beginning to laugh as well. Suddenly they were both in hysterics, doubled over as if the funniest joke in the world was just told. Soon though ladybug found that, unbeknownst to her, tears had begun streaming down her face. She frantically wiped them away but they wouldn’t stop. And soon laughs dissolved into cries.</p><p>“My Lady?”</p><p>Ever hesitant, he reached to cup his hand to her cheek. She leaned into his touch.</p><p>“It’s just… I thought I’d never see you again.”</p><p>She was really crying now. She leaned over to bury her head in his chest, tears pooling on the fabric of his suit; he didn’t seem to mind.</p><p>“I don’t know what I’d do if I never saw you again Chat,” she sobbed.</p><p>He acted on instinct. Wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. Needing her comfort as much as she needed his. It felt like two halves coming together, the way they were always meant to be.</p><p>“I thought I’d never see you again too,” he said sadly. </p><p>“I regretted it the minute I left. And If Uncanny Valley hadn’t found me wandering around, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.”</p><p>“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”</p><p>“I’m sorry I lied to you.”</p><p>“M’not mad about that anymore,” she sighed “I should have made it easier for you to trust me. We went over this earlier. But Chat, how could you run away? You know I need you. We’re in this together. Me and you against the world, remember?”</p><p>“I- I’m sorry my Lady. I know I made a mistake. But hurting- killing Uncanny Valley, failing you, it was too much. I figured you were better off without me.”</p><p>“Never” she said looking up into his eyes, “I could never be better off without you. We both make mistakes, it’s okay. We shouldn’t blame each other for it. I was wrong to be that upset with you. It wasn’t your fault. What happened with Uncanny Valley wasn’t your fault. And even if it had been, I’d stick by you through anything. You’re a good cat, Chat,  And nothing could change that. We need to be on the same page though. I need to know what’s going on. I need to know you won’t leave just because things get scary. You’re my partner, and I’d never want to do this without you.”</p><p>“I promise. You and me against the world, no matter what. Even?”</p><p>He looked at her then, in a way he never had before, and though she had no name for it, it made her heart feel fuller.</p><p>“Even.”</p><p>They sat like that for who knows how long. Pressed together in comfortable silence, assured that the other didn’t mind.</p><p>“My Lady?”</p><p>“Yes kitty?”</p><p>“May I kiss you again?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>This time he didn’t hesitate. Leaning his head down he met her lips once again, pulling her into him as close as could be. Her delicate hands reached up to grasp his shoulders. Quickly the kiss turned desperate, and they moved as one. His fingers wound their way into her hair, and hers around his back. </p><p>Suddenly they were interrupted by the beep of her earrings, followed by that of his ring, signaling that they had only five minutes to spare. Pulling away ladybug turned hot, blushing as red as her costume. The sight alone was enough to make chat melt. He stared at her in awe. Proud to call her his lady, and amazed that his wish had finally come true. </p><p>“That’s our cue,” she said, but neither moved.</p><p>“I feel like I dreamed this.”</p><p>“Oh no” she said, brushing a stray hair away from his face<br/>
“It’s definitely real.” Feeling braver, she kissed his cheek, then his nose, then once on his mouth for good measure.</p><p>“Careful, I might never have the strength to leave.”</p><p>“Well we have to go home eventually, or Paris will have some very sleepy superheroes on their hands tomorrow” she quipped. Still, she rested her head against his shoulder. Looking down at the empty Parisian streets. He put his arm around her and brought her closer. Neither had the intention of making any move to leave. They’re timers would run out soon, but they weren’t ready. Finally they’re Miraculous gave a final warning. One minute to go. </p><p>“I don’t want to say goodbye to you,” he said solemnly. </p><p>“Then don't,” she smiled. She got up and reached a hand out, pulling him up to meet her. </p><p>30 seconds.</p><p>“Just say, until tomorrow.” She let go of his hand and backed away, pausing a moment to wave.</p><p>And with that she was off. Swinging to the nearest building and ducking into some hidden street. </p><p>“Until tomorrow, my Lady,” he said. Staring out into the distance, he smiled the brightest smile he had smiled in a long while. </p><p>“My love.”</p>
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